Year 6 pupils from Norwich High School for Girls, accompanied by four members of staff, spent 6-9th May 2025 immersed in the culture, language and history of Picardy in northern France; a trip that offered far more than just a break from academic lessons. Here, Miss Lindsay Gooch, Prep School Teacher and French lead, outlines her trip report.

Our base for the four days was the delightful Château du Broutel, nestled in the heart of the Somme. En route to the Château, our journey was broken up by a trip to a snail farm, where we learned about how these creatures are reared and bred. We got an opportunity to handle the snails and also to taste this French delicacy. Despite some initial hesitancy from a few girls, most really enjoyed their tasters and went back for seconds and even thirds. There was also some homemade jam and lemonade on offer for those who didn’t partake in the snail tasting!

On Wednesday, after filling up on pain au chocolat and croissants at breakfast, we set off to Lake Conchil for our water sports activity. We enjoyed learning how to steer our canoes around the buoys as well as turning our boats and paddling backwards. Our navigation skills were tested when we had to steer our canoes through narrower waterways, under bridges and avoid the low branches at the sides of the lake. It was a steep learning curve for some crew members but we supported each other … and did a lot of screaming and laughing along the way.

We had a much more tranquil afternoon, taking a beautiful wooden steam train across the Somme Bay from St Valéry to Le Crotoy. Along the way, we passed pretty villages and vast stretches of salt marshes, where we spotted herons, egrets and other bird life. After dinner, we participated in a scavenger hunt in the grounds of the Château.

Thursday began with orienteering and then a tour around the Château, learning about the families that had lived there and its unique history during the world wars. Afterwards, we walked into the local town, Rue, where we watched a procession marking the 80th anniversary of VE day. Later, we bought macarons and cakes at the pâtisserie, practising our French in the process.

In the afternoon, we travelled to nearby Le Touquet. Here, we ordered ice-creams in French before spending an idyllic few hours on the soft white sands of Le Touquet Paris-Plage collecting shells, rolling down the dunes, digging holes and building sandcastles. Back at the Château, we toasted marshmallows around a campfire, played games and reflected on our favourite activities of the week.

A Friday morning exploring the market in Étaples allowed us to buy souvenirs and spend our remaining Euros, before returning home. Surrounded by native French speakers, our girls quickly picked up new vocabulary and phrases and their confidence in speaking French noticeably grew as the need to communicate overtook any fear of making mistakes.